50 per cent loading on life insurance for the obesity

Mon, 25 Feb 2008

According to recent reports, insurance companies are planning to put a ‘fat tax’ on the obese applying for a life insurance policy . The costs applied to the overweight may increase premium costs by as much as 50 per cent. Furthermore, the threshold at which these higher rates will be applied is going to be brought down.

The largest life insurance company in the UK, Legal and General, made it clear that some 13 per cent of new applicants will have to pay the highest level of premiums. The threshold regards anyone with a body mass index of 30 or higher, at which one becomes medically obese .

Further increases in premiums occur should the policyholder be a smoker, or have any previous medical conditions. Obesity in the UK has been described as an epidemic, and the Legal and General announcement has come as no surprise to most experts.

The director of underwriting at L&G, Russ Whitworth, reportedly commented: "Most people understand that poor diet and lack of exercise can lead to health problems but they might not realise that being significantly overweight would also make their life insurance more expensive."
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